As urban development accelerates, a new protocol offers councils a reliable way to verify stormwater treatment devices, ensuring effective water management.
Managing stormwater is a significant challenge for local councils. Rapid rates of development necessitate extensive stormwater pipe networks, often within constrained spaces. Industrial and commercial areas, such as service stations, present potential water quality risks to local creeks and downstream natural environments.
To mitigate these risks, various stormwater treatment devices have been developed to fit into tight spaces and treat water before it reaches natural water bodies. However, ensuring these devices deliver the required water quality outcomes has been problematic due to the lack of a standardised performance verification process.
Stormwater Australia is the peak industry body for the stormwater industry and is supported by state organisations in Western Australia, South Australia, Victoria, New South Wales and Queensland. Our members have proudly protected the environment, served their communities and supported sustainable stormwater solutions since 2000.
Stormwater Australia believes that coordination and sharing of lessons and information are key to meeting the ongoing challenge of stormwater management. From water quality to urban design and natural disasters, long-term solutions require the stormwater community to tackle problems together as a team.
It was with this background that Stormwater Australia in conjunction with industry stakeholders developed the Stormwater Quality Improvement Device Evaluation Protocol (SQIDEP).
Challenges for councils
The rapid pace of urban development has led to the proliferation of stormwater treatment devices without a robust verification process. This means councils face the problems of:
- Dealing with large numbers of development applications that include stormwater proprietary devices
- No time, and sometimes no means, to rapidly assess the validity of proprietary device claims
- No easy way of comparing the stormwater treatment claims of proprietary services
- Poor performance of existing underground devices, leading to ineffective stormwater management
- High maintenance costs and efforts associated with devices that are performing poorly
The solution: SQIDEP
At the request of local government members, Stormwater Australia developed SQIDEP to address these issues. SQIDEP is not intended to replace local government stormwater planning or guidelines. Its purpose is to support local governments in understanding which proprietary devices have sufficient evidence to support their water quality treatment claims.
SQIDEP is an independent evaluation process to verify the performance of stormwater treatment technologies. It provides a uniform set of criteria for field-testing and reporting on the efficacy of stormwater treatment measures.
The SQIDEP approval process involves:
- Independent assessment: Devices are assessed by qualified independent parties, including universities and specialist engineers/scientists within the stormwater consulting field.
- Rigorous field testing: Devices undergo rigorous field and laboratory testing to quantify their pollutant removal capabilities.
- Independent verification: Independent evaluators verify the performance of these devices and provide a certificate that verifies performance claims.
There are many benefits that come with using SQIDEP-verified devices:
- Credibility and reliability: SQIDEP approval ensures that devices have undergone thorough testing and peer reviews, guaranteeing that they achieve performance claims for pollutant removal.
- Consistency and standards compliance: Using SQIDEP-verified devices helps councils comply with established standards and protocols.
- Improved water quality: These devices are tested for their efficiency in removing pollutants, significantly improving water quality and benefiting the environment and public health.
- Innovation and competition: The approval process encourages innovation and competition among manufacturers, leading to the development of more effective stormwater treatment solutions.
- Performance assurance: Field validation over prolonged periods and multiple storm events ensures consistent device performance under various conditions.
- Transparency and accountability: The detailed approval process, including independent peer reviews and quality assurance project plans, ensures transparency and accountability. All evaluation reports and certificates are available on our website.
- Data-driven decisions: Extensive data collected during the approval process provides valuable information for informed decision-making regarding stormwater management strategies.
SQIDEP progress
Since SQIDEP’s implementation in 2020, Stormwater Australia has provided independent SQIDEP verification and approval for eight devices with another four currently under evaluation. Details of the approved devices can be found on the Stormwater Australia website.
A number of councils are now mandating SQIDEP certification for stormwater treatment devices to ensure that developers are engaging with verified stormwater devices prior to submitting development approvals. One of these is the Gold Coast City Council, which has incorporated SQIDEP verification into its planning scheme, requiring that proprietary devices used in design solutions be SQIDEP-approved.
Similarly, Logan City Council has mandated that all new developments must use SQIDEP-certified proprietary stormwater treatment devices. Certification must be provided before development approvals are issued, ensuring that only verified devices are utilised in new projects.
Brisbane City Council has also changed parts of their Infrastructure design planning policy to include SQIDEP verification. They have provided a transition period (up until December 2024) for existing and new development approvals that include stormwater treatment devices, to be SQIDEP Verified. These devices will demonstrate the required performance metrics of Brisbane City Plan 2014.
It is expected that other councils will follow. Stormwater Australia is available to work with local governments to provide any additional guidance that is required for SQIDEP or to support any broader challenges that they are facing with respect to stormwater strategy and implementation across blue, green and grey stormwater assets.
For more information, visit stormwateraustralia.com.au
Image: Lost_in_the_Midwest/shutterstock.com
